The journey that started at Bethlehem ends on Calvary. Here, the new image of God, of man and of life/death is completed. It is the theoria: God’s show (Luke 23:48) that frees us from the lie about Him and us. Contemplating Him while He gives His life for those who kill Him, everybody can see who He is: love for us and only love. Here, everything is accomplished. The purpose of every mission is to witness to the Crucified Jesus, portraying Him to the eyes of those who listen (Gal 3:1).
The text presents the various interpretations of the cross. What kind of God, King or Savior is He who loses Himself? “Save yourself!” is the refrain at the foot of the cross. Only a thief and a centurion see in the cross God’s revelation and the salvation of humankind. They are the only theologians of the Gospel!
The religious leaders are imagining a god-master of all, supreme legislator, final judge… and implacable executioner who executes an unending death sentence. This is the god whom religions affirm and atheists deny: the god who antagonizes humanity as the serpent suggested to Eve. The cross frees God from this devilish character: He is no longer a father-master that people accuse, a god to invent – if He were not there – in order to dominate, or to kill – if He were there – in order to free humanity.
For all the religious people, the cross tends to be seen as a curse. It is the very cross that reveals that God is one who loses Himself in order to save us. He is not the supreme egoist, but absolute love for humanity: He enters into every evil and loss so that no one who is lost may feel abandoned. The cross is salvation from every oppressive religion. The political power takes after “the fox and the lion:” you grab it and maintain it with cunning and strength.
For the soldiers, servants of the violence that goes with power, the cross is weakness. What kind of king is one who doesn’t save himself? The king is free and powerful: he can do what he likes. He is the ideal man, the ideal of every human being, the image of god on earth. This is why we honor him and serve him. Those who oppose him end on a cross: absolute powerlessness, the fate of the rebellious slave.
The cross is medicine against this devilish trait in the ideal of man: the fulfilled human being, the image of God, is the one who gives life, not the one who gives death. The crucifix is so powerful that He is able to love with a love that is more powerful than death. The cross is salvation from every oppressive political system: it frees us from the various ideologies that justify domination of human beings over other human beings.
For the first thief, Jesus is incomprehensible: why is He not saving Himself and then, obviously, the two thieves as well? Probably, like Barabbas, they wanted to knock down the establishment. Their only fault is that they were defeated. Otherwise, it would be the others who would be on the cross! Why is it that Christ saves neither Himself nor them? To save myself is the supreme reason of all my actions. It is for this that I am an egoist. What is wrong is not that I have to die: after all I am mortal. What is wrong and evil is sin that makes a god of my ego: where I end, everything comes to an end!
This is how my egoism thinks. In reality, where I end, an Other begins: my limit is the point of contact. And my absolute limit is the point of contact with the Absolute, the Other, my beginning and my end. This is what the second thief grasps: a God condemned to the same punishment as himself makes him understand that even the most cursed death is the place of love and communion stronger than evil. The cross takes away the devilish aspect of life and death: it takes away the fear of death that mortgages my whole life.
Free from the vain effort of saving myself, I get healed of my egoism. In this way, I can enjoy life and love the way I am loved. In this way, I pass, already today, from death to life. This is the foretaste of heaven, the garden of desires. My story becomes that of the Just One, the Son of the Father who overcomes evil with goodness. This is also the centurion’s discovery: he understands that the real power is not the one he has, but the one of the Just One whom he has killed. It is the power of loving and giving life. Popoli – www.popoli.info
